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Brambles of the Trossachs and Stirling 71
“one of the most abundant and characteristic of Scottish brambles”, having
described the form from dried material in 1894. While his view is perhaps an
overstatement of its distribution, it certainly is widespread in central and
especially north Scotland (‘septentrion’, chosen by Watson, is an ancient name
for ‘the north’). Still on the Callander Crags and scattered throughout the
Trossachs although seldom in quantity; here and there in Stirlingshire.
R. villicaulis Köhler. var. selmeri Lindeb. = R. nemoralis P. J. Mueller. At the
time Rogers was writing there was considerable confusion over the segregates
comprising the aggregate R. villicaulis. In his 1894 description of the various
taxa he points out the differences between insularis (see previous entry) and
selmeri, which “seems to be the commonest fruticose bramble in Scotland, as in
most parts of the British Isles”, so much so that he gave no stations for it. It is
indeed widespread and often abundant and, along with R. latifolius and
R. radula, has the widest distribution of all the Scottish species of Rubus.
(R. rhombifolius Weihe: “I think certainly a strong form of this” in one place
west of Callander; although a possibility – there is a good colony at
Rowardennan by Loch Lomond, a mere four miles distant (but on the other
side of Ben Lomond) – his identification may be an error. In his Handbook,
Rogers places this taxon under the aggregate name villicaulis near to selmeri, i.e.
nemoralis, and it may have been a form of that. A voucher specimen has not
been found.)
Series SILVATICI
R. macrophyllus Weihe & Nees (sp. collect.): most of the available material
gathered under this composite name, including R. schlechtendalii Weihe, has
proved to be R. leptothyrsos G. Broun, discussed in the next entry. However, a
puzzling specimen collected by Loch Tay at Killin by different batologists,
including Rogers who called it “somewhat off type” (by 1900 dubbing it
macrophylloides), has turned out to be a shade form of R. furvicolor Focke.
Another “shade form … not very well marked” shown to Rogers at
Gargunnock may well have been leptothyrsos.
R. hirtifolius Muell. & Wirtg., var. danicus Focke = R. leptothyrsos G. Broun:
Rogers had not come across this in England but from specimens received he
realised it was “a frequent and very handsome Scottish bramble”. This is
indeed the case, especially in the central belt. Focke had confirmed it as his
R. danicus and Rogers goes on to discuss its affinities with ‘macrophyllus’ (see
previous entry). He also noted specimens seen from further afield than the
Trossachs area and Stirlingshire.
R. pyramidalis Kaltenb.: a short entry states “By L. Earn, a hairy form …“; a
specimen has not been seen but a bramble collected near the east end of the
loch and on the outskirts of St Fillans has been confirmed by D. E. Allen as
“fairly typical” pyramidalis. The other station was “near Killin; the type”, which
may in fact prove to be furvicolor or wirralensis if a specimen can be traced.